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Commentary on April Employment Situation

“This morning’s employment report marks the third consecutive month in which payrolls saw a net gain exceeding 200,000, with jobs being added across several industries. We are finally seeing steady job creation. The report was also positive in that the number of long-term unemployed fell by nearly 300,000.

“The slight increase in unemployment to 9.0 percent was inevitable. It may rise even further in the months to come as the job market improves. The reason is that people who had abandoned their job searches out of frustration will rejoin the pool of available labor and once again be counted among the unemployed.

“Obviously, we still have a long way to go before job creation and employment reach pre-recession levels. It is not going to happen overnight, especially considering that we just experienced the worst recession in decades; one that spanned globally. Today’s report, as well as our data showing very low corporate downsizing activity, should provide some optimism going forward.”